Accidental Fermentation. Advice?

[tmags711]

So yesterday (Sunday) was brew day. I was generally going for BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde. I wanted to do two versions so I bought the grain for a ten gallon batch, mashed it all, and collected about 12 gallons of wort on two buckets. The plan was to pitch two different yeasts and rack one onto strawberries. However, for plenty of reasons, not the least of which was an unfortunate hangover, brew day was rough. Anywho, my real question is as follows:

I only boiled and pitched one of the two 'batches'. My understanding was that I could hold onto the other six gallons of wort and boil it at a later date. I was brewing and mashing outside, but kept everything pretty well covered. The wort I WASN'T boiling I put in a bucket with an airlock just to protect it. Here's the catch. It's airlock is bubbling more than the beer I actually pitched and upon examination is definitely up to something.

Not a good something. It smells like creamed corn that sat out in hot sun (clearly not a good thing). I'm pretty sure I accidentally made a lambic, but definitely not a good one. So, after a long winded explanation, my question is this:

Any thoughts on what happened? Do you agree it picked up some yeasties somehow and they are going to town? Kepp in mind that I didn't forcibly chill the wort, just let it sit; no yeasat was pitched; and it has not been boiled or hopped. Basically, we're dealing with sugar water.

Should I let it go and see what I end up with? Can I boil it and salvage it? Or is all hope lost and it's going down the drain?

Note: When I say it smells like creamed corn in the sun, I mean that it is one of those smells that stays in your nose for hours. I am quite sure that it is garbage. Just looking for opinions.

 

[Andrew5329]

What happened is that sterilization for the homebrewer is impossible. No ifs, and's, or buts. The best you can hope for at home is "sanitation" enough that your yeast have such a head start that they ferment the sugars/create enough alcohol fast enough that any bacteria/wild yeast don't have a chance to do any harm.

The reason it had activity faster than your boiled wort is that when you pitched your yeast the temperature was probably around 70F. With most microbes for every 10*C you increase the temperature, you double their rate of activity. Assuming your wort was at about 168*F when you finished that means the temperature was about 75C compared to a 20C room temp, that's 2x2x2x2x2= 32 times the rate of activity, so for every hour the bacteria/yeast spent in your sanitized bucket they did almost a day and a half's worth of multiplication/fermentation.

As far as I know the only way to store wort indefinitely is to actually pasteurize it and the container, which at home is basically impossible with anything larger than a small bottle/jar where you literally have to cauterize the lip before you add boiling hot wort, then cauterize the lip again before you can cap it, anything exposed to open air is potentially contaminated.

 

[Dan]

This is not what tmaggs did but is an interesting read. Sounds a no chill method is common in Australia.

Certainly not saying it is the same as the OPs situation.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/No_Chill_Method

 

[KuntzBrewing]

Don't boil this beer, check out the wikipedia page on dms, apparently its extremely flamable and an eye irritant. So boiling this could be deadly and very hazardous

 

[tmags711]

Well I'm certainly not going to argue. This morning it had some really rank blowoff. I had to get out the door to work so I just set it outside, I'll dump it later. I'm kinda bummed, but I do still have the other half in primary, so there is still beer to be had.

On an unrelated note I way undershot the target OG, got 1.030. By my math I'll get about a 3% ABV beer if I'm lucky. Such a shame.....

Better brew again soon!

 

[Guden]

Don't boil this beer, check out the wikipedia page on dms, apparently its extremely flamable and an eye irritant. So boiling this could be deadly and very hazardous

This is a joke right? You boil out dms every time you make beer. Check out the flammability temperature it's twice the bp of water. I definitely wouldn't dump this, sounds like an unintentional sour mash. Boil it up soon add some hops and it might just be worth keeping.

 

[kpr121]

Well, I can say that I kind of did the same thing about a month ago, left a gallon jug of extra runoff in the garage for about a week before I remembered it. When I went and looked, it had blown off the aluminum foil cap I was using and krausen was everywhere. I cant say it smells absolutely terrible, in fact it is a bit pleasant now, and by the advise on here I am going to keep it around to see what comes of it. It smelled worse that first time I checked it out. First rule of thumb in brewing is if in doubt, don’t throw it out! In fact I should probably rack it this week sometime, then I will save the yeast just in case I found a new “haus” blend (“garage” maybe the more proper term but “haus” sounds better!)

I would suggest keeping it around for another couple weeks if you can afford the fermentor space, you might still get lucky!

 

[pohldogg]

The rank smell is most likely enterobacter creating butyric acid. That's not a flavor that boils off or ages out. I'd let it finish, give it a taste and decide if age might do it any good. Probably a long shot at best.

 

[bribo179]

No boil sudo Berliner Weiss?

 

[tmags711]

.....sounds like an unintentional sour mash. Boil it up soon add some hops and it might just be worth keeping.

Guden, when you say sour mash, do you mean I accidentally might have made whiskey? I've never even looked into distilling but I do know that whiskey is fermented grain mash.

Like I mentioned, it hasn't been dumped yet. It's on my patio still in the bucket with an airlock. For experiment's sake, I'm going to keep it around and see what happens. I have no OG reading for it and am of course flying blind.

I'll post a picture or two when I get home.

 

[Guden]

I was referring more to the process commonly used to quickly sour saisons and Berliner Weiss. By adding grain to warm wort lactobacillus can grow and create lactic acid for a mild tartness. Many other things can grow during this process and with you not controlling temps or purposefully adding bacteria those may be dominant. The smell/ taste may be there to stay but boiling, fermenting and waiting could all have a positive affect.

 

[SwampassJ]

It's from not boiling the 2nd half of the batch. Grains naturally have a lot of bugs on them that need to be killed ni the boil and it's going to smell and taste terrible if you aren't holding it in the right temp range like they do for the sour mashed beers. Ever leave the grains in the mash tun over night and open it in the next day or two days? That is what your beer is going to smell like.

 

[SwampassJ]

Don't boil this beer, check out the wikipedia page on dms, apparently its extremely flamable and an eye irritant. So boiling this could be deadly and very hazardous

the dms pre-cursors are in the malt already. You want to boil the piss out of Pilsner malt because they have more potential to taste like creamed corn than say Marris Otter because of the higher/longer kilning that is done to the Marris prevents it to a point.

 

[tmags711]

FYI, I decided to dump the wort. The smell wasn't getting any better and I felt like the bucket was mocking my failure.

For what it's worth, the other half of the batch is going great. After three days in Primary I added 2.5 lbs frozen strawberries and fermentation took off again. It should come out right around a 4% ABV. Nice light and crisp session beer.

 

[kpr121]

It's from not boiling the 2nd half of the batch. Grains naturally have a lot of bugs on them that need to be killed ni the boil and it's going to smell and taste terrible if you aren't holding it in the right temp range like they do for the sour mashed beers. Ever leave the grains in the mash tun over night and open it in the next day or two days? That is what your beer is going to smell like.

I have experienced that horrific smell, and I have to say that my spontaneous fermented gallon batch of runoff smells fairly awesome, slightly fruity and a little bready. I get a very small amount of that ‘week-old grain’ (I assume this is from Lacto), but its not much. So maybe I was just lucky and the wild yeast took off before the lacto could get a hold.

I didn’t recognize that the OP used pilsner malt, that would definitely explain the cooked corn. And I would most likely have done the same thing in your situation and dumped it too.